Correspondence of the Components of External Evaluative Art Criticism with Mulla Sadra’s Four Intellectual Journeys in Transcendent Philosophy

Introduction: Following the separation of art history from art criticism, art criticism in the contemporary world has evolved into an interdisciplinary field, incorporating a wide range of theories and approaches. It has played a significant role in shaping the perception and artistic taste of a wide range of both specialized and general audiences when encountering works of art. This highlights the necessity of systematization and dynamism in art criticism through reliance on theoretical foundations. The Transcendent Philosophy (al-Hikmat al-Muta‘āliya) is among the sources that offer considerable potential to address this need. Accordingly, the present study seeks to correspond Mulla Sadra’s Four Intellectual Journeys (al-Asfār al-‘Aqliyya al-Arba‘a) with the stages of evaluative external criticism, aiming to answer how the components of external art criticism can be aligned with Sadra’s Fourfold Intellectual Journeys.Research Method: This qualitative research employed a descriptive-comparative approach. The correspondence between the stages of the fourfold intellectual journeys (Asfār al-Arba‘a) and the stages of external evaluative criticism was carried out using the framework of Kerry Walk (۱۹۹۸), which identifies five key criteria for correspondence: Frame of reference, ground for comparison, hypothesis, organization scheme, and linking of A and B.Findings: The stages of description, classification, examination of causal conditions, explication, and interpretation within external evaluative art criticism correspond to the First and Second Journeys. Similarly, the stage of analysis corresponds to the Third Journey, and the stage of evaluation corresponds to the Fourth Journey, encompassing the two arcs of ascent and descent within Sadra’s Intellectual Journeys.Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that the path of perfection of the soul, through substantial motion, its ascent from the sensible to the intelligible, and its resurrection and gathering, can be mapped onto a parallel movement within the artwork, as apprehended through external evaluative criticism. Just as the soul is corporeal in origination and spiritual in subsistence, progressing through substantial motion from corporeality to union with the Active Intellect, casting off its material body and attaining perfection in immateriality, so too the artwork, though corporeal in its sensible medium, embarks upon a motion through the process of critique. Within the medium of philosophy, this culminates in a unifying and final hypothesis. By transcending its corporeal dimension, the artwork enters the domain of the intellect and inaugurates a new life within humanity's cultural existence, taking form in the consciousness of subjects; that is, within the intelligible realm.

کلیدواژه ها:

Art Criticism ، External Evaluative Criticism ، The Four Intellectual Journeys ، Substantial Motion